UNIT 3: RESEARCH TECHNIQUES Digipaks

What is a Digipak?

-A type of packaging for CD's of DVD's which are usually made out of cardboard and are in a type of booklet form.

What does it contain?

-Photos of the band/artist
-Cover of the digipak
-The songs in order
-Lyrics of the song
-Information about the songs
-Bonus tracks
-A bit about the band/artist
-Personal message (thank you's)
-Website link
-Barcode

UNIT 3: RESEARCH TECHNIQUES Assignment P1,M1,D1

UNIT 57: Resubmission report on how image is used to communicate ideas

For this task we were asked to research three different areas of photography and look at the way in which each area uses imagery to communicate ideas. I have chosen to look at; Advertising, Documentary and Fine Art. I feel these three are different to each other and each have a unique style of getting across appropriate messages and ideas. Also I enjoy their images and I am inspired by various artists who photograph those three specific areas.

Documentary photography is a popular form of photography usually snapping historical events or issues happening in the world as well as every day life. The photographers look at colour change, filters, saturation and effects greatly when taking their photos because these play a huge factor in the end result of the shot because simply changing a photo to black and white can change a whole photos meaning and change the emotion we feel from it. It helps us to widen our knowledge and exposes us to real life footage of real life and everyday events which are happening around us. It gives the severity of the events as its raw footage and can be quite shocking sometimes which draws public attention gaining popularity. Documentary photographers are our eyewitnesses to show hidden messages within society and capture moments of time for all of us to see. They take photographs of what they see in the world with their observation and skills. Documentary photographers have to be mentally and physically stable and prepared as some photographers come into contract with horrific and traumatising conditions. Documentary photography is used to get across the real life events that are happening and do not get any attention or publicity about. A single photo can speak a thousand words when it real life footage.

Steve McCurry is a american documentary photographer who is extremely well known and popular for his fantastic pieces of work. He has worked in both photojournalism and editorial. His work covers a variety of events, some of these include conflicts, ancient traditions and contemporary culture. His most famous photograph has to be "Afghan Girl" which is below. In an interview for American Photo magazine McCurry said "There is a time when a few people would venture out into their neighborhood and photograph their town, village, city, or state. Travel was more difficult and sometimes impossible 50 years ago. People weren't going to these foreign countries for photography. Now, you can pick a place like Kenya or Brazil or New Zealand and it's relatively affordable to go there. People are going to virtually every corner of the world. The world is changing rapidly. Take India for example. People have pretty much seen everything and now you need to dig a bit deeper and do something a little bit more in depth. Everyone has seen the Taj Mahal. What else can be said about one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the world?" This is quote from McCurry himself where he talks about how times have changed and people never used to go abroad or to cultural places to get their photos but now a days a lot of photographers go to these foreign countries for them. He also talks about how photographers are thriving to get something new as he explains how everyone has seen the Taj Mahal and that he looks a little bit deeper and tries to find other cultural beauty which aren't too mainstream that they take away the beauty of the photo.

http://www.americanphotomag.com/interview-steve-mccurry-street-photography-and-change

 

An article Published in Town Topics Newspaper about McCurrys most iconic and famous photograph "Afghan Girl". He has been called a star in the world of journalism for being the only photographer to capture what was going on during the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan which is where he captured the photo of the young Afghan girl. Steve states"The effect is intensified by the way the picture has been framed, the green backdrop a foil for the infinitely richer, more subtle shade of green in the eyes, the deep plum-dark earth tones of the head scarf setting off an expression that has been compared to the inscrutable smile of the Mona Lisa."  This is Steve explaining how the Afghan girl's stare was so intense as he stared at her it was if she was constantly staring back. She is compared to the Mona Lisa due to her subtle smile. This image communicates the ideas of how brutal the Soviet invasion was and war generally also, it portrays the effect of war on children. The young girl looks emotionless and fierce and this portrays what she has just been through. By looking at her eyes we get the feel of fear, pain and emotion of how sad she is. From the positioning of the photograph we get the feel that the girl is looking straight at up wherever we look, this communicates the idea that we should feel empathy for her and see things from her perspective



This is one of McCurrys photographs called "The Twin Towers". He talks ',all the stuff they had been doing was just frozen in time' this quote emphasises how lives were frozen and lost from this event and how 9/11 was such a big and traumatic day for thousands who lost their lives, who were injured and for family and friends. The photograph communicates the idea of how many lost their lives due to their not being one human who is alive or in the photograph. It shows the loneliness and devastation of the tragic event on that day. The two staircases go out in different directions which emphasis the loneliness and pain of people.

Marcus Bleasdale is a documentary photographer who has used his photographers as part of his campaign against human rights abusing the world. He has photographed some of the most brutal wars in Africa in the previous years and extremely famous historical events. He is taking these photographers for the use of National Geographic watch and Human Rights watch, this shows his work is to a professional standard and has been seen by a wide audience.


In a video called "My best shot: Marcus Bleasdale" he explains how when he gets angry taking photographs relieves that anger and when he takes photographers he makes sure the fact he is taking a photo is really obvious and clear however he states "it really does depend on how sensitive that situation is"  He talks about capturing child soldiers and conflict zones. He goes on to talk about his best shot which is of a young soldier , no more than 10 carrying a Kalashnikov gun. He uses a black and one colour tone on the photo to emphasis the emotion and darkness of how hard this young soldier is to be that young and carry a soldier. "I don't want you to see one child carrying a Kalashnikov riding one bike, I want you to see all of them" This explains the severity of how many children were in this little boys situation and how terrified they must feel for them to have to protect themselves with such a large weapon. This is these children lives though and they know nothing but war, fighting and conflict.

Fine Art is created using the photographers vision of the artist and how one wants to interpret the scene. Fine Art is about a message or an emotion, the artist has something they want to convey in their photo. Their is always a subject when it comes to Fine Art as they are the main focus of the image and the message they are trying to get across. It started out in 1822 and has changed drastically over time. Before taking a photo, the photographer usually has an idea of what they want to capture in order to make the photo convey a message or emotion they want to get out of the photo. They will achieve this by using certain shots, frames, techniques to convey this. Within Fine Art photographers play around with the saturation, colour change, brightness and filters.

Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist and is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He is best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration FSA documenting the effects of the Great Depression. He showcases American life through the 2nd quarter of the century including domestic interiors, outdoor advertising, automobile culture etc.

This image shows a portrait of a man taken by Walker Evans in 1936 in a period when he was studying the lives of three different tenant farmers. They spent weeks

 with the farmers, observing their everyday lives, jobs and daily activities. This was for 'Fortune Magazine' to document the hardship of farmers during the depression. In an article for Stanford News.

Advertising photography is a way to communicate and advertise various different products in an effective image. It covers different genres for example; food, fashion, still life etc. It came around in the 1850's and has changed since then to using digital cameras editing the photos rather than just taking a black and white photo. Advertising photographers have a very complex role and it is an extremely hard job to achieve. Now a days technology is changing rapidly and as a result in this new softwares and editing softwares have been made such as the image manipulation software where you can use a "green screen" to create a fake background behind the object you are advertising which creates a complex but effect compositing. Another software is portable lighting equipment which gives the artist the possibility of shooting outside using different lightings to get the perfect setting however not being confined to a tiny studio space. To make a good advertising photograph it needs to look sharp and clear as it need to grab the readers attention, the product you are advertising should be well lit and made to stand out of the photo and this can be changed by changing light modifiers, by using a proper composition and a persuasive straight photography style this will ensure the photo looks perfect.

Jonathan Knowles is one of the leading advertising photographers of his generation. He has done campaigns for some of the most popular, well-known and successful businesses; Coca-Cola, Smirnoff, O2, Guinness and many more. He was given the Graphis Annuals award, he was one out of 10 who got this award. Knowles has his own exclusive style and approach on photography and this has earned him award winning advertising commissions worldwide.

This is one of Jonathans most famous shots, it is for Schweppes new low cal drink. He is an extremely quirky, fun and experimental photographer. His use of colour and texture is surprising and therefore stands out drawing people to the shots which is advertising. The photos are so vibrant and full of different colours and textures they seem to jump out and tie your eyes to the photos.

This photo was photographed by Rene De Carufel. It is clearly advertising Asparagus and this is shown through the imagery and imagination of the photographer. Imagery is communicated through the asparagus coming out of the tube to make it seem like a paste, which is asparagus paste. The colours in this photograph are dull and show different shades of green to reflect the asparagus's colour and flavour. Rene De Carafel makes sure he is absolutely sure on what the company wants their image to portray and the messages they want to convey.

Evidence from a book= "Wedding Photography: A Guide to Photojournalism"

This book explains in detail the effects of photojournalism and how the images are captured. "We do not stop events and ask our subjects to smile for the camera and we do not set up moments so we can capture them" This shows the depth of photojournalism photography, it proves that the shots are not set up and everything that's shot is natural and is captured from real life events. It is fascinating how the shots comes out through being unprocessed.

Evidence from a documentary= "Telling the Story: Documentary Photography with Thatcher Cook"

This documentary video talks about Cook's documentary photographer life, his career and how he takes his images and what he does to them. He states "My technique was I just hold the camera up to my face and then I let people walk through the frame and then i just go snap, instead of chasing them around" this shows how photographers photograph what they see as a pose to capturing a made up scenario. However, this way it portrays a emotion or feeling towards the audience as they approach how they feel towards it or what they thinks happening in the photo. Thatcher talks about how he approaches people he would like to photograph and asks them politely and respectfully, he also keeps a good relationship with his clients which is good for documentary photographers as they can capture more of an individuals life and create a portfolio on the same individual over time which is really cool and interesting.

Evidence from a newspaper article= "Before and After Post-Processing of Travel and Fine Art Photography"

This article is about how Peter Stewart, a Fine Art and Travel photographer takes his "awesome scenery photos". He states there are three basic light qualities you need to master; colour, direction and intensity. It also shows that time of the day is a key concept as choosing the right time is a foremost in capturing a scene at its best. Peter uses Photoshop to edit his photos to enhance some details as well as give life to the photo. Peter says that "understanding natural light develops your ability to create better images" this means that by knowing how to use natural light it can change and improve your photos massively as light is the most important aspect of capturing an amazing photo.

Evidence from a magazine= "Photoshoot Magazine"

This is a magazine where they aspire to get across the product of service they are promoting and shoot what the customer want. They specialise in public relations photography and marketing and commission photoshoots to promote an organisation, product or service. They work closely with the organisation getting to know the product and make a brief ensuring they know enough about the product, service to make sure they get the message across in their photo. Photographers will usually get hired by a business to take photos of their new product or service to promote it and to get it across to people. There are thousands of companies which do this but they need to ensure they get the right message the customer have asked for because the customer will pay them a lot to do this

What I have learnt
Through this assignment on how imagery is used to communicate ideas it has been a huge benefit and I have learnt an incredible amount of knowledge about the different types of photography. Different photographers in different fields of photography use different techniques and ways of taking their photographs to portray a specific image they want to capture. I've learnt that different photographers work in various and diverse ways and have their own individual and personal style and process. however it depends on the circumstances of the events they are capturing. There are multiple aspects that each photographer has to think about prior to catching their shots, factors such as; weather conditions, lighting conditions, stability for the photographer, clothing, severity of war etc. From completing this task I feel confident to continue onto task 2 where I have to take photographs in the style of each type of photography, I feel like I know a lot about them